Solid

Tonight we filmed the second episode of "Pioneer Sideline," the Point Park sports show. Tonight, I made my debut on U-View television. Tonight, I raised eyebrows and dropped jaws.

It was incredible.

I'm sitting in my dorm room now with burning eyes, hands smelling like makeup, and I am too tired to even function.

The burning eyes come from the makeup. I hate makeup. It's too much of a hassle. I don't know how girls do it. I had my neighbor and another girl on my floor do my makeup for me. It was weird.

I spent an hour the night before researching the Steeler's defense. The 'Case of the Week' was "What is the Steeler's biggest problem this season?" I was arguing that the defense is the biggest problem, because it is.

Trying to act casual as I take a "selfie"
before going on air

I got to the studio at 6, an hour before starting time and a half hour before call time. I practiced with the teleprompter and went over questions for the host to ask me about the rugby team.

When it was my turn to go on air, I was as calm as a June day. I went through my two minute segment about the rugby team and proceeded to answer questions about the team. As soon as I started talking, I could see the senior and other upperclassmen jaws drop and stay on the floor for the duration of my segment. When I was done, I was met with an unexpected applause. It was really cool, actually.

I then went immediately to the desk for the 'Case of the Week.' We talked about the Steelers for what seemed like 30 seconds. It went by so quickly and I was a little bit nervous for that part, I'm not going to lie. I don't get nervous, but I have never ad-libbed a segment before on TV. It was a really fun experience. This Thursday, I will have my second on-air appearance on "Daybreak" reporting on national sports news.

I got so many compliments on my voice and my delivery. It was such a great feeling. I'm exhausted now but I feel so accomplished and can't wait to see the finished product.

Walking out, I ran into the gentleman in charge of the studio. He asked me if I was on air for the show. One of the juniors came around the corner and said, "You bet he was." He started to tell me the importance of being well rounded. The junior said, "Don't worry, he already is. He's a keeper."

I can only imagine what is in store for this year. I was so excited to get here and now, I'm so excited for everything that is ahead.

Because, why not?
Josh 

9-11

9-11 has became almost a thing of the past, and it's terrible.

A chance for everybody to make a post on social media with the hashtag we will never forget. I even heard it called "9-11: The attacks on New York City" on the internet the other day. I remember growing up and watching 9-11 documentaries all day and night on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America.

This year, it was hard to find just one. Amid trouble in the middle east with ISIS and other domestic issues, the media understandably had other stories to cover.

Students in middle school now have no recollection whatsoever of 9-11. The average American knows that there were four planes that were hi-jacked and three of them crashed into symbols of American power, The Pentagon and The World Trade Center. Oh, and there was a fourth plane.

That fourth plane that everybody seems to forget about. There were 40 strangers that boarded United Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California on September 11, 2001. The events that lead up to 9-11 and the events that followed are all captured in "Flight 93: The Story, The Aftermath and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11" By Tom McMillan.


Tom McMillan is the vice president of communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I had the privilege to listen to McMillan speak about his new book and Flight 93 to Point Park students and faculty on Thursday before a candle light vigil held in Village Park to honor the lives of those lost that fateful day.

If you get the chance to read his book, do it. A journalism professor at PPU, Helon Fallon wrote a book review for the book found by clicking here. All proceeds go towards the Flight 93 memorial, where McMillan volunteers a lot of his time.

I was disappointed that I was unable to attend the Honors Program trip to Sommerset last weekend to visit the memorial. I will make it out there before I graduate for sure.

McMillan shared with us the stories of many passengers on the flight and the their struggle to take back the plane. He said that from the evidence that they have, the passengers weren't trying to take the plane over to crash it and save innocent lives. They were trying to save themselves.

I wish I could describe everything that he told us in the short hour long session. His presentation was powerful, emotional and inspiring.

What if 9-11 happened in today's world of smart phones and social media? What if there had been more images and videos of the wreckage and crashing of Flight 93? What if the plane had taken off a half hour sooner and not been delayed? What if the plane did crash into the Capitol building where congress was meeting? There are so many what if questions that came into my head that night.

What if we didn't just take 9-11 as an opportunity to post a pretty picture of the memorials with a never forget quote and actually took time to take it all in and learn about the victims and learn about what all really happened?

The famous quote often wrongly attributed to Joseph Stalin reads as such: "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."

Those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 were all individuals with families, stories, hopes and dreams.

My point is this: As time goes on, we put less and less importance on major events that result in major loss of life: Titanic, Pearl Harbor, natural disasters etc. It happens, and it's a shame. My memories of 9-11 are faint and not too dramatic. We do need to take time to learn about those who lost their lives, pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and actually "never forget."

I'm not sure that I will ever fully realize how lucky I am to live in the United States. I do recognize the fact thought that there are millions who have sacrificed their time and lives to protect us and I can never fully express how thankful that I am for that. We all need to take time to think about how lucky we are and sometimes it takes imagine the "what ifs?" in life.

From "Seussical" by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty:

When your life's going wrong
When the fates are unkind
When you're limping along
And get kicked from behind
Tell yourself how lucky you are...


Because why not?
Josh 

Huge step forward

This week I had the opportunity to work behind the scenes for the first taping of the two major weekly productions at Point Park, "Pioneer Sideline" and "Daybreak."

Sideline is the weekly Point Park sports show that highlights the previous week in Point Park as well as Pittsburgh sports. The show ends with the "Courthouse Case of the Week," a debate segment where four students debate whatever is the lead headline in the sports world that week.

Daybreak is similar to "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America." There is Point Park, national, city and political news, as well as a national sports segment. The show closes with a free segment that could be anything from highlighting a student's talent to playing Wii Sports, which was the case for this week's taping.

My latest Rugby story in the Globe

I ran camera for Sideline on Tuesday night. The senior producer of the show had just set up an interview with one of the rugby players and was going into the interview blind. I gave him a lot of information to go off of and helped him have a successful interview. The host struggled in his first appearance as host of the show. I took instruction well and received multiple compliments after the show.

Because of the good impression that I left, I was offered an on-camera spot for the next episode. I will get to do a two minute spot on the rugby team followed by a question and answers segment with analysis. I was also offered one of the four positions for the Case of the Week.

My view from the KiPro computer
in the control room

On Thursday we shot Daybreak and I was looking to learn something new. I volunteered to run KiPro, the digital video playback machine. It is a complicated system and I caught on pretty quickly. The show ran fairly smoothly.

After the show we had a post production meeting to fill spots for the next weeks show. I was chosen to do the sports segment for next weeks show.

Next week, I will make multiple U-View TV debuts. I am more than excited to make my first appearances on the shows and start making my mark in the studio. With a number of seniors graduating in December and May, there are positions looking to be filled and an eager freshman looking to fill them.

Because, why not?
Josh

Working under pressure

Working under pressure.

That has been my entire last couple of days. From actual pressure, to sinus pressure. I hate this cold. I'm over it and I'm ready to feel better again. I'm getting progressively better, but at a far slower rate than I would like.

Saturday after the Rugby match, I wrote my story on the bus ride home and put the finishing touches on it in my room. I went out to Buca Di Beppos for a friend's birthday dinner. When I got back, I was told that I needed pictures for the story. There was a photographer at the game, but I had no contact information, not even a name.

They were supposed to post the pictures to the rugby Facebook page.

I contacted multiple rugby players only to not get an answer. Sunday was a pretty relaxing day of Steeler football and Pirate baseball. Sunday nights are movie nights with a film society at PPU. We watched Silver Linings Playbook, an oscar award winning film and an overall great movie.

Now Monday. With my cold still not getting better, I went to CVS to see what I could find. Emily is sick too so I was going to buy her cold medicine as well. I got what I needed and went back to campus. Before my 1:00 class, I stopped in the Student Health Office. I asked if they had anything for a cold and they gave me a bag full of pseudoephed and something else. It has been working fairly well. They also gave me free mini packs of tissues!

Hey, if I'm paying to go to this school, I may as well take advantage of all of the services that they offer.

Later Monday night, I was relaxing after a long day and watching the Pirate game. Suddenly, I got a notification that 65 new pictures had been added to the rugby Facebook page. Finally.

I sent them over to the sports editor, Emily Brak, and she asked me to send two specific pictures to her email. I thought that was done.

I went over to the gym at 9:45 to play basketball with a few guys. While I was there, she asked me to then send them from a personal email to the Globe photo email. I don't know why. I told her that I would get to it when I got back from the gym.

When I finished the game, I rushed back to my dorm to resend the email at 10:45. Again, I thought I was done.

At 11:15, Kristen, the editor elect, texted me and asked for cutlines for the pictures. A cutline is the caption at the bottom of a picture describing the who when and where. I had no idea who the three guys were in the two pictures that they had. I'm still trying to get to know 25 new names and faces and of course, these three faces were unrecognizable to me.

I sent the pictures to multiple players asking for help with no answers. Do they ever check their phones? I did my own research on Facebook and attempted to match names with faces. A half hour later, I was able to create cutlines for the pictures. I thought I was done, again.

Falling asleep at 12:15, I was then asked for the name of the photographer. I had no idea. I had no hope but to ask as many rugby players that I could. I felt obnoxious.

Finally, one of the team captains got back to me and I had the name. 12:30 and I could finally sleep. It was done. The other team captain would later message me back at 1:30. Just in time.

I was met with compliments on my work and a satisfactory feeling. I came up clutch again.

Tonight, we film the first episode of the sports show Pioneer Sideline. I'm not on the show tonight but I will be working behind the scenes.

I'm just trying to get as involved as I can and work as hard as I can to make good impressions. I hope it's working. Now I need to concentrate on getting better, as if concentrating on feeling better could actually work.

Because, why not?
Josh

Right place, right time

I just love being spontaneous, if you haven't figured that out yet. I have no idea what I'll be doing next, and I like that.

Of course I like having schedules and a structured life. I also love the thrill and excitement that comes with being spontaneous. That has a good chance of being the theme of my college career, or at least my freshman year.

Wednesday night, I went over to the Student Center to play basketball at 8:00. I met a couple of really cool guys there, one of which will be on my intramural team.

Last night, I was on call to work the men's soccer home season opener at Highmark Stadium for the Point Park Sports Network. I was told two hours before the game that I was not needed for the 7:00 game. At 6:40, I prepared to go eat dinner and settle down for the night. Thursdays here are pretty insane, as a majority of students do not have Friday classes, myself included. The college of performing arts students (COPA) usually have class Friday. Dancers have 8:00 am ballet every day. That's rough, I hear.

I threw on a pair of shoes and grabbed my ID to prepare to head to the dining hall when my phone went off. I had a message from one of the students calling the game waiting. He said that they did not have somebody to run the camera for the game and was asking me if I was available. Wanting to make good first impressions, I made the adventure to the Strip District.

It was more of a run. I turned a 20 minute walk into a 9 minute run to get to the stadium in time for kickoff. Positive impression, check. "This is really clutch of you," the director of sports communications told me. I was then given a voucher for the concession stand from the athletic director before the game started. I spent it on a pretzel and gatorade at halftime, AKA dinner.

Point Park lost 1-0 after an aggressive and tough match. We left the stadium at 9:30 to venture back to campus. I got back and headed straight to the Point Cafe. They do late night meal exchanges and the food is pretty good. College food actually isn't as bad as I had imagined from horror stories that I heard. Food is food. After getting my chicken quesadilla from the snarky woman at the grill, I went over to the soda machine for a soft drink.

There, I ran into one of the guys that I played basketball with on Wednesday night and his girlfriend, who happened to be Breann Wood, my childhood best friend who attends Carlow University. I haven't seen her since Kindergarden, I swear. What a small world. I will cover the soccer woman's soccer game when Carlow faces PPU at Highmark Stadium. She starts for Carlow.

Can you see me?

Today began my weekend. I love beginning weekends on Fridays. I also love Shostakovich. I'm listening to his 12th symphony, "The Year 1917" now. Beast.

Anyways, this morning I woke up early and did laundry and homework. I learned of a Steelers Pep Rally in Market Square that was scheduled to happen at noon. At 10:15, I made my way over to market square because, why not? There, the Tunch & Wolf Show on ESPN 970 was broadcasting live. I took a front row seat and listened in. As people started to venture into Market Square, I stayed in my seat and people watched. I do that a lot here. There's a lot of interesting people in Pittsburgh.

Mayor Peduto addressing fans

Tunch and Wolf show

The Pittsburgh Steeline performed, the Steelers (pathetic) mascot made an appearance and the atmosphere was close to energetic. The pep rally began and was over just as it started. 15 minutes was all that lasted of the rally. Speeches from Steelers President Art Rooney II, Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald allong with Tunch and Wolf was all that the pep rally entailed. Here's a photo slideshow of the event. The Mayor of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto stuck around to do interviews for local media. I ventured over to the small gathering of reporters and included myself in the huddle. I got funny and dirty looks from the other reporters but I didn't care. I nodded and agreed with some of Peduto's statements and pretended like I belonged.

After his interview session, Stan Savran was taking his first commercial break on the set of his radio show on 970 ESPN. I walked over to the set and introduced myself. I was shaking and nervous but kept my composure. He couldn't have been any nicer. I grew up watching him on FSN Pittsburgh and watched him cover Pittsburgh sports for as long as I can remember. As I told him, he is one of the first people that I remember seeing on TV. This guy is a Pittsburgh media legend. He gave me career advice without even asking and wished me the best of luck. He said that he loves the work that PPU does with their students and that they always produce quality work.

Stan Savran hosting his old show on FSN "SportsBeat

This one minute spontaneous conversation was really great. It reminded me of the reason that I'm living in downtown Pittsburgh and attending Point Park. I'm never far from action and never too far away from meeting somebody. The business is all about being in the right place at the right time, sometimes that comes up spontaneously. I love it.

I don't know what's in store for the weekend other than the Rugby match at Grove City tomorrow. Again, I love being spontaneous and being in the right place at the right time to connect with the right people in the right places. I love this city.

Because, why not?
Josh

Crazy (cont.)

I have to write two papers due on Monday. One describing my room and one about cheating.

The only thing that I learned today was how to actually open my mailbox.

That is all.

Because, why not?
Josh

Crazy

Everything is so crazy. I like crazy.

I've learned that college is a very spontaneous experience. I. The past three days, I've spontaneously ventured to The Point, Pirates games, Market Square and even an ice cream place that donates $.50 of every purchase to a different charity. 

I'm scheduled to cover the PPU rugby team at their first home game on Saturday. Well, "home" game. 

Click here to view my story

Tonight, I learned that not enough players have registered through USA Rugby to be covered under insurance. They have to forfeit their right to host the game and will have to travel to Grove City instead. They will still be the home team. There also will be no fan vans. I will be riding up to GC on one of the teams two shuttles at 10:30 am for the 1:00 PM start. 

Downside: Besides eracing all of my day's plans, I already finished my rugby preview story for the Globe. You can read it on the Globes website, PointParkGlobe.com. I end the story promoting the game and the fan vans transporting students to the first home game. The Globe prints on Tuesday mornings. My first story ends with a glaring error. It's not my fault and I can't control it, but it still bothers me. 

Tomorrow night is the first WPPJ Radio meeting. It is also the last day that I can purchase anything in the bookstore with my store credit. I need to sign my team up for intramural basketball as well at some point. Along with all of this chaos, I will be purchasing tickets for a Ducky tour from the SAIL office for only $2. Well, I wanted to. The tour is on Saturday 9/13 the second scheduled game for the Rugby team. I'm so flustered. 

There's so much that I want to do with so little time to do it all in. 

I'm starting to battle a nasty cold that is taking a lot out of me. I do have daytime cold medicine. I brought some with me because I knew that I get sick at this time every year, and remain sick for the duration of the school year. 

I need rest, Gatorade and a clone. 

Because, why not?

Josh